The easiest way to embrace your Saturn’s Return is to use the seven times table, but to find out why, we must first frequent ourselves with Saturn itself. As most of you will know, Saturn is the sixth planet from the sun, is the second largest in the solar system, has nine gaseous rings with two moons.

Astrologically speaking, a return is when a planet comes back to where it was in your natal chart when you were born. For Saturn, this return occurs approximately every 29.5 years. Due to its size, Saturn is associated with power, it rules over authority, the laws of science, organization, ambition and change. The planet is named after the Roman God of Agriculture, is associated with Chronos – the God of Time – and its glyph represents the sickle of God. It is associated with slow, deliberate and lasting action together with the replacement and placement of boundaries. Therefore, this slow moving planet can have a profound affect upon us.

Saturn’s Return uses life-changing events to raise issues and then clear them so that we can become more aware of who we are and realise our potential. Unfortunately, our initial response is to resist change and by doing so, we develop a pattern of behaviour that causes us to experience delays, frustrations and disappointments.Not until we recognise the futility of resisting change can the true nature of Saturn be revealed to us. The truth about Saturn is that it is not only the harbinger of change, but it is also a teacher, a facilitator, a carer a supporter and a loving nurturer with the ability to mete out tough love.

Since it is our behaviour that dictates which aspect of the planet we interact with, it is up to us as to whether we experience tough love or loving support. Examples of life changing events are birth of a child, getting engages or marriage, death of a loved one, having a serious accident, starting a new job, divorce, etc. How we act during a life-changing event, whether it be a joy or a crises, reveals a lot about us. They highlight whether we are adult enough to take responsibility for our own actions, are able to face the truth of the matter, recognise our limitations and whether we have the patience and wisdom to deal with the inevitable delays whilst working with the complexities of contradiction.

Saturn’ Return therefore reminds us that we all live in a permanent state of change, which regularly confronts us with our own insecurities. These insecurities are brought on by the uncertainties of life, some of which are caused by our own life choices, and others are down to the co-dependent relationship that exists between and death. Therefore, Saturn is a constant reminder that life gives birth to death and death to life and one cannot exist without the other. Yet this never-ending cycle of physical life and death enables a spiritual transformation to take place where we become aware that it in life that we sleep and that in death we awake. So working with Saturn’s return enables us to find the best of who we are whilst highlighting our worst traits. By doing so, we have a clearer understanding of what we are capable of and if we learn to embrace who we are, we can start to receive a glimpse of our true magnificence.

It is very scary for us to come face-to-face with ourselves because it is our selves that we fear the most, and with good cause. However, the generosity of this planet is within its 29.5 year cycle, which gives us plenty of warning that change is on the way and to be forewarned is to be forearmed. So although most of us do not play well with Saturn to begin with, by taking the necessary action at the right time we ensure the best of who we are out weighs the worst. Fortunately, the approximation of Saturn’s astrological cycle allows it to be changed from 29.5 to 28 years, with the influence of its zeniths spanning of what is usually a 3-year period. These adjustments enable the Saturn return cycle to be divisible by the number seven creating four minor cycles, hence, the need for our seven times table.

From a metaphysical perspective, this adjustment enables the planet to work with the number seven, which is a powerful spiritual number and is associated with searching, working hidden and the concept of luck. Therefore, the power of Saturn raises what is hidden to the surface so it can be dealt with before it is cleared away. As a consequence each major Saturn Return has a purpose.

The first occurs the day we are born and lasts to the day before our 28th birthday. During this time-line we are busy physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually developing and preparing for adulthood.

The 2nd Saturn’s return occurs on our 28th birthday when we enter our major adulthood. During this 28-year cycle, which takes us up to the day before our 56th Birthday, we learn the art of growing up. For this purpose, the definition of growing up is the ability to conduct our selves in an adult manner rather than reverting back to children tactics to get our own way or gain attention.
The 3rd Saturn’s return is when we enter our second adulthood at the age of 56 and this cycle takes us up to the day before the our 84th birthday. In this cycle we are given the opportunity to put everything that we have learned during the previous 28 years into practice. It is also the beginning of preparing to waken in death. Whether or not we succeed in growing up by the time we get to 56 is dependent upon our willingness to deal with our own insecurities. Since this is the case, there will be some people who have grown up before their 56th birthday and others who will never grow up at all.
If we live to 84 and beyond, and a lot of us do, we enter our third and final adulthood our 4th Saturn’s Return, which takes us up to the age of 112 and during this cycle we continue the process of preparing to awaken.
Each one of these 27 year cycles can be split up into four quarters since it is easier for us to cope with a seven year cycle rather than a 28 year one. If used wisely, these minor returns can be are our valuable allies.

Apart from working with what is hidden and luck, the vibrational meaning of the number seven also relates to mental analysis and is associated with the seeker and the thinker, which wen combined results in the ability to search for the truth. Furthermore, the metaphysical significance of the number seven is reflected in the days of the week, the seven colours of the rainbow, the seven seas, seventh heaven and the seven continents. There are also a few well-known sayings that I am sure most of you will have heard, if not used. They are ‘the seven year itch’, breaking a mirror brings seven years bad luck, then there is the saying ‘give me a child until he is seven and I will show you the man’ and last but not least the phrase ‘all sixes and sevens’. Unbeknown to most of us, when these sayings are used, they highlight that someone is tied into a Saturn’s Return.

Doing the seven times tables does a similar thing, it tells us which mini cycle we are functioning within. Just knowing whether we are in the process of preparing to or actually growing up or are enjoying the fruits of having grown up gives us direction.We can identify when we have tied into a Saturn’s Return when we start to experience good or bad luck. The fact that we unwittingly associated a Saturn’s return with luck signifies that we are blind to the fact that we are partially or fully responsible for the difficulties or happiness that we are experiencing.

A run of bad luck means that we are being given a taste of tough love and it can only be stopped if we are prepared to stop and reassess what we are doing and why we are doing the, and then make the necessary adjustments. If we fail to make any changes, we bring the bad luck with us into the next cycle. When we go through a lucky phase, where everything falls into place, we are interacting with Saturn’s supportive and nurturing aspect. Being the harbinger of change, our Saturn Returns remind us that nothing is sustainable, and in time our own actions will ensure that our good luck will run bad and our bad luck will run good, but only if we work with and not against Saturn. Working with Saturn gives us structure and certainty because despite the fact we don’t know what or how it is going to happen, it does tell us when we can expect change to occur. This means we can prepare for it when it comes.

To gain further insight, all we need to do is to have the presence of mind to stop and distance ourselves from our present situation. This provides us with a greater awareness of how we influence any given situation that we are involved in directly or indirectly, for the better or worse. Gaining such insights enable us to exercise a degree of control over our lives at a level we didn’t previously realise was possible. All that is left for us to do is to reap the rewards associated with us being in control of our selves and therefore our lives. So when you have time, look back over your life and remember the positive and challenging events that have occurred and see how close they are to one of your Saturn returns, whether it be a minor or major one.